Rosemary and Daniel Champion moved to their smallholding by the River Forth in Clackmannanshire, Central Scotland, in 2000. Disillusioned by the quality of food produce, they began growing their own vegetables and eventually moved into livestock and The Accidental Smallholder was born. In her blog, Rosemary Champion shares their successes and failures with H&C.
"I can’t believe that it’s the end of January already. We’ve had a few lovely days here – cold, but with no wind, and dry and sunny. It’s been quite warm in the sun and I’ve had to discard a layer of clothing. That’s me down to three now!
Our three ewes are now back from the tup. They’ve been scanned and Juno is carrying twins, while Jinx and Jura have single lambs. This is the same as last year but hopefully Juno will raise both lambs this year. I’m a wee bit disappointed that we’ve two singles, but I didn’t flush them. I resolve to do better next year.
The ewes and the ewe lambs are in the orchard, so Bud and Dickie are out in the six acre field. They looked a little lost at first but seem fine now. There are tups in the next field, but they all seem to be ignoring each other.
My beekeeping course started last week. It was very interesting and I’m looking forward to the remaining classes. I hope I get on OK with the bees – the theory side will be fine; it’s the practical stuff I’m apprehensive about.
Dan was out pruning the apple and pear trees yesterday. He burned the prunings so we all smelled a little smoky last night. Even Felix came outside – first time for ages! I pruned one of the climbing roses – it took me ages so I didn’t get the second one done. And I swept up a bit, so it all looked little tidier. Seems strange to think we won’t be here next year.
Our seed potatoes, onion and shallot sets and garlic bulbs arrived last week. I think we’ll just plant them here; hopefully, the new tenants will share the produce with us.
The dry weather’s great – Smokey pony is relatively clean, with no mud hole to roll in. I noticed yesterday that he was dropping his coat a bit; I hope he’s not premature, although it’s better if he burns calories keeping warm than laying them down as fat. I’ve got the vet coming on Thursday to do his annual flu and tetanus, so I’ll see what he thinks about Smokey’s condition. I’m quite pleased with it – he looks quite slim to me, but maybe I’m biased."
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